


Stay

by Goober



Series: The Emperor and His Hound [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Bathing, Blood, Hand Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Wounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 03:09:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8040133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goober/pseuds/Goober
Summary: He expects to see Kylo in meditation, or talking to the charred remains of an old Sith Lord’s helmet. Expects to find his room torn to shreds and unrecognizable as a living space. Expects a lot of things that spell nothing but paperwork and an easy answer to this unusual behavior.What he finds, upon using his override code to open the door, is worrying.





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

> The official part one of my Emperor Hux series, now that I actually have an idea of how it came to be in the first place.

All day while Hux worked there were no incidents.

No reports of officers going to medical, no Stormtroopers coming to tell him about a tantrum, no screaming, no broken machinery. It was blissfully silent and Hux should be relieved. He deserves a day off of playing babysitter for the Supreme Leader. He deserves not to have to think about Kylo fucking Ren every five seconds he’s on the bridge.

But he worries.

Worries throughout his routine, worries throughout the paperwork. Worries the entire time he walks down the long hallway towards the quarters at the very end. It’s too quiet. An eerie silence that belied something was wrong in the absent screech of a raving madman, and in the missing hiss of an unstable source of pure power and destruction.

The entirety of the end of the hall is abandoned, the rooms available for most newcomers who quickly vacate to shared quarters. No one wants to be around him, and honestly, Hux doesn’t want to deal with yet another complaint about weird noises and bursting lights in the early hours of the day cycle.

Hux straightens his uniform as he pauses in front of the door. It’s just as silent, not a single noise escaping from within. No good would come from this, he is painfully sure. Nothing good ever happens around Kylo Ren.

He expects to see Kylo in meditation, or talking to the charred remains of an old Sith Lord’s helmet. Expects to find his room torn to shreds and unrecognizable as a living space. Expects a lot of things that spell nothing but paperwork and an easy answer to this unusual behavior.

What he finds, upon using his override code to open the door, is worrying.

Kylo lays on his side with his back to the door, the regulation sheets beneath him stained red  and with drips down the side of the bed. He’s quiet, and if Hux didn’t know better from his posture, he’d assume the giant was brooding again, but the stiffness of his shoulders and the fact that moving to look over at Hux seems painful is telling enough. Kylo sneers at him, baring his teeth like a rabid animal, face bisected by the bandage half wrapped over the bridge of his nose. The bindings look like they’ve nearly been torn off, and Hux isn’t surprised when the shirtless figure is missing a very important bandage around his middle and side.

“Get out.” The energy was drained from the order, but no less threatening in Ren’s deep growl.

Hux remains in the doorway for a moment before entering. “Have you taken to destroying yourself instead of my things, Ren?”

“I said. Get. Out,” Kylo snarls, despite the clear flicker of discomfort on his face.

“If I am to deliver you to Snoke, I intend to do it in one piece.” Hux strides closer to the bed, eyes falling to the mess on the sheets. “Are you so incapable that you feel the need to bleed out on your own bed?”

“This is none of your concern.”

“Get up.”

Kylo balks for a moment. “You can’t order me around.”

“Well, I am.” Hux crosses his arms and lets his disapproving frown deepen. “ _ Get up _ .”

Kylo lays back on his pillow, and pointedly acts as though Hux isn’t even in the room. Hux’s fists clench and he turns on his heel angrily. He can feel the satisfaction, and then the confusion, radiating from Ren as he doesn’t leave the room but instead heads to the refresher.

As part of his status as co-commander — honestly, what a joke — Hux had installed a few luxuries into Ren’s rooms. The main thing being the bathtub that ran actual water. Showers were considered something special and only for officers. Sonic-showers were far more practical for the masses, and a lot quicker.

He plugs the drain and turns the tap on hot, letting water fill the bottom of the tub. While the bath slowly fills he takes off his coat and gloves, folding both neatly and setting them on the wide vanity in front of Ren’s cracked mirror. He refuses to replace it a fourth time.

“What are you doing?” He hears from the other room. “Hux, get out.”

He ignores Ren and continues to watch the tub fill, checking the temperature every so often. When it’s full but not enough to spill over the edges he shuts off the water, pours a ridiculous amount of Ren’s scented body soap into the water, and leaves the room.

“Get up,” he repeats a third time.

Kylo is sitting up at this point and Hux can see where the blood is coming from. He’s torn open the stitches at his side, the bandages scattered to the side of the bed and a darker red than the sheets beneath him, well past clotted and dry. Hux’s lip upturns at the sight and it takes everything in him not to chastise the man immediately.

Instead he turns back to the refresher, despite the agitated sigh that follows him. Locating the emergency medical kit inside every standard room, he re enters the room. “Sit on the edge of the bed,” he orders, setting the kit on the kicked away comforter.

“Get out, Hux.” There’s a distinct lack of fight in his voice, as if he was too physically and emotionally tired for real anger.

They glare at each other for a moment before Kylo gives in with a frustrated hiss through his teeth. Turning so he’s at the edge of the bed, legs crossed and back slumped forward. His muscles look strained in his skin and Hux wonders just what the hell he did to himself this time.

Ignoring the initial disgust at having to crease his uniform and kneel in front of Ren, he lowers himself onto his knees and reaches out. He slaps away Kylo’s hand when he tries to cover up the stitching, urging him to sit up straighter.

Hux is silent as he works, smearing bacta on the entirety of the wound and pulling the stitching back into place. He ignores the pained noises above him, and the weight of Kylo’s questioning eyes on him. “Stop squirming.”

“What are you doing?” Kylo asks, quietly, as if speaking any louder would break the moment.

“Fixing your mistakes. Like I always do.”

There’s no response, and when Hux has done all he can to keep Kylo from bleeding more he sits back on his heels. His stomach and side are stained red, the wound from the bowcaster just as angry as the wounds on his shoulder and face. Hux reaches up and pulls off the rest of the bandages, revealing the chasm now cutting Kylo’s face. Ren shrinks back as if he’s ashamed for a second, but seems to remember this is not the first time Hux has seen his face like this. Granted, there was a hell of a lot more blood the first time he saw the scar, dragging Kylo’s ass through the snow and across a crumbling planet.

Hux moves to stand, popping the ache in his knees from kneeling on them for longer than he had in years. “Come on.”

Kylo’s brow draws together, lines of uncertainty creasing his face. “You can leave now.”

“I’m not asking again, Kylo.”

There’s something in the way Hux says his name; the fact he says it at all. It’s always been Ren, or more mockingly, Lord Ren. Never Kylo. It seems to have the intended effect because as Hux turns away he hears the bedsprings protest as the lumbering figure stands up.

“Strip,” he says, not bothering to turn as he checks that the water is still warm.

“I know how to bathe myself,” Kylo snaps.

“Congratulations.”

Hux is mildly surprised he hasn’t been flung across the room by now. When he turns around to order Ren again he sees the man actually obeying his command. Leggings halfway down his thighs, Kylo pauses and curls in on himself. “Do you mind?”

“No, not really.”

Kylo frowns harder but steps out of his pants, pausing with his thumbs under the waistband of his boxers. He seems to lose the ability to care about his privacy as he pulls them off in one swift motion. Even soft his cock seems large and Hux doesn’t know if he expected any different. Perhaps he was hoping for something alien, so he could deny Kylo’s humanity.

Kylo walks forward and dips his foot into the bath, hesitating at the sudden heat on his skin, before he lowers himself in. “You can leave now.”

Hux watches the water turn light pink as it washes the blood from his side. If it hurts the stitches, Kylo doesn’t let it show. “No.” Hux turns the tap on again and pushes Kylo’s shoulder to lean him forward. He goes without protest, tensing at the touch, but letting himself be guided under the stream of water.

Kylo’s hair only turns darker when it wets, thick rivers of water streaming down as Hux absently makes sure the entirety of his thick mane was washed. He pointedly ignores how much he enjoys having his hands in Kylo’s hair, the soft feel of it between his fingers similar to an animal’s.

“I could drown you like this,” he comments, half-heartedly. Really Hux only wants a rise from Kylo and when the vague almost-threat goes unanswered he gets a pang of worry through his chest. Something happened.

He pulls Kylo from beneath the tap and shuts it off, the tub a little fuller than when they’d started. “I know how to wash my own hair,” Kylo grumbles into his chest as Hux uncaps the small scented bottle. He’s very obviously ignoring everything about the situation.

“Shut up,” Hux sighs without any bite to his words. Silently he pours a palmful of the liquid and rubs it through his hands before reaching down to card his hands through Kylo’s hair. It smells undeniably of Ren, minus the occasional scent of ash and blood that follows him.

They sit in silence as Hux washes Kylo’s hair thoroughly, earning a few grunts as his fingers work through thick knots within the mass of black. When it’s soapy and heavy he guides Kylo beneath the tap again and goes about rinsing out the soap.

“I assume you can do the rest by yourself.” Hux wipes his hands on a nearby towel after turning the tap off again.

When he stands and walks to the door he hears a faint but commanding, “Stay,” from behind him. His feet quit moving of their own accord and Hux’s temper riles at the sheer audacity Kylo has to use his damn powers on  _ him _ .

“I see you’re not completely useless,” he snaps when the hold on his body releases. Hux whirls around and intends to tell him off but Kylo looks so pitiful when he stares up at Hux that the words die on his tongue.  _ Like a kicked puppy, _ his mind supplies. Hux always did have a small weakness for helpless creatures.

“Why … are you doing this?” Kylo asks, not breaking eye contact even as he blindly reaches for the soap.

“Doing what, Ren?”

Kylo frowns. “Caring.”

Hux has half a mind to laugh in his face and storm out. Him;  _ caring _ ? If his father could hear that he would be rolling in his grave right now. “Don’t mistake pity for kindness.” He crosses his arms, ignoring how defensive his posture has gotten.

There’s silence before the Knight answers with a small, “Alright.” Kylo looks away only to wash his . There’s something almost vulnerable in the way he looks, a certain light cast over his face to make such young features seem impossibly older. Hux curses himself as he walks over and sits back in his space, watching as Kylo runs water tenderly over his new wounds.

“He’s going to kill me.”

Hux blinks. So that was it, of course. He stays silent while Kylo continues.

“I was weak and unable to stop …  _ her _ ,” the venom in his voice is thicker than his own hair. “I failed, and now I’m going to pay. I thought I could train, get myself back into shape for him. But I’m too weak to even do that.”

“Your body needs rest,” Hux sighs, interrupting the pitiful monologue. “You can’t expect to just go back to how you used to train. Not even Snoke would expect you—”

“But I should!” Kylo snarls, throwing the soap across the room. It lands with a wet smack against the tiles. Hux would laugh at the childish display if he weren’t concerned about the flickering lights or the way Kylo pressed his nails into his palms so hard the knuckles of his fingers turned white.

“No. You’re human. You can only heal so quickly, and he knows this.” It’s strange, trying to comfort Ren. “He’d be more upset with you for trying to push yourself and failing that than giving your body the time it needs.”

There’s a tense silence before Kylo barks, “He’ll kill you too.”

“I’m aware.”

Another thick silence.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

“You can’t deny what is true,” Hux answers simply. When Kylo looks up at him there’s something like actual concern in his eyes. It’s shocking, stuns Hux into stillness. “Get dried off,” he says before Kylo can open his mouth, handing out a towel before standing and exiting the room quickly.

Hux hears the water slosh and drain, ignoring the shadow in the doorway as he rifles through Kylo’s clothes. He really owns very little. The same tattered robes and cowl, with different underclothes. Did he even own bedclothes? Before he can find the answer to his question he jumps as he feels a hand on his back.

When he spins around to demand what Kylo wants he’s surprised by pressure against his lips. Soft, plush lips capturing his own and holding him still. Eyes widen, giving him more than an up-close view of the scar bisecting Kylo’s face, before falling closed of their own accord.

The kiss turns hungry almost instantly, the hesitation seeping away into something more needy. Wet hands grasp Hux’s hips as Kylo pushes him forward, backing him up against the dresser and running his tongue along Hux’s lower lip.

Hux allows Kylo to part his lips with his tongue and explore the space behind his teeth. He’s still not sure what to do with his hands but settles on wrapping his arms around Kylo’s neck to pull him closer. 

Kylo presses his palms to Hux’s chest, pulling the catches away before unzipping his uniform tunic. Hux fights his way out of his sleeves and undershirt, lips pulling apart for a moment so he could tear them off over his head. The moment his shirt is gone Kylo presses forward again with a new series of similarly hungry kisses, demanding complete control of Hux’s lips and tongue.

Hux pushes Kylo forward, parting their lips again. He looks like he wants to argue but Hux quickly orders, “Bed.” Kylo grabs at his hips again and leads Hux back towards his bed, pulling at the belt and trousers as he does. Hux toes out of his boots and considers, for a moment, that this is a very bad idea.  _ Nothing good happens around Kylo Ren _ .

Sensing his hesitation Kylo frowns as he looks at the bed. “Is it the blood?” Kylo asks.

“Well, now it is.”

With a quick motion Kylo strips the bed. “What was it before?”

“Is this a good idea?”

Kylo shrugs. “Does that matter?” When he wads up the ruined sheets and sets them aside he sits on the edge of his bed, comforter pulled up over the mattress.

Hux hesitates for a moment, then sighs, resigning himself to not thinking too much about this. “It should, but not right now.” He pulls down his jodhpurs and socks, stepping out of them and walking closer to Kylo.

“You’re so small.”

“Don’t make me change my mind,” Hux snarls.

Kylo grabs at his hips, pulling Hux into his lap. “It’s not a bad thing,” he hums against Hux’s neck, sending vibrations through his entire system.

If Hux thought Kylo was thick while soft he’s totally thrown off by the half hard girth pressing against his thigh as he straddles the Knight. Large hands move to grope at his ass, earning a keening sound from Hux as their lips meet again to swallow the noise. He knows no one can hear them this far down the hallway, but Hux is embarrassed at the neediness and high pitch of his breath.

Thumbs hook beneath the waistband of his boxers and pull them down over his cheeks, urging Hux to sit up a little so Kylo could pull them down to his spread thighs. Hux squirms and struggles his way out of the underwear, kicking them off his ankles when they’re down. When he seats himself back into Kylo’s lap Kylo is looking over him with such appreciation that it turns his cheeks red.

“Shut up,” he says instinctively.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Hux’s only response is to kiss Kylo silent, feeling the smirk against his lips. Hix jaw slips open as he feels Kylo’s hand on his cock, hips canting into the fist closed around him. Hux’s mind wanders to blueprints as he tries not to come on the spot as Kylo strokes him, hand moving to grip at Kylo’s cock in return. He’s much thicker than Hux’s hand, and he has to reign in his fantasies about riding Kylo until the man sobs. It would tear open his stitches.

Kylo mouths at his jawline and hums, “Next time.” It sounds like a promise.

“Stay out of my head,” Hux warns, giving Kylo a particularly rough stroke.

“You were projecting loudly,” Kylo protests. “If I had neighbors they would have felt your desire.”

The blush spreads down to Hux’s chest. In response he grinds against Kylo, stroking him in time against his thigh.

“ _ Fuck. _ ” Kylo bites down on Hux’s shoulder, soothing it over with his tongue.

Kylo’s strokes start to become more erratic, pulling at him without much finesse and it occurs to Hux that he might not have any experience being with another person. Or if he had, it wasn’t good. This sends a thrill down his spine, the possibility that he’s one of the only people to have Kylo like this. It soothes his possessive streak.

When Kylo’s hand slaps his away he’s about to argue when he feels Kylo press his cock against Hux’s. The sensation is overwhelming and his thought process stutters for a second, keening loudly as Kylo’s large hands wrap around them both.

“Shit. Fuck.  _ Kylo _ .” He’s biting his lip hard, forehead pressed into Kylo’s collarbone. Hux watches them rub against each other, hips thrusting forward into the tight fist around him, Kylo rigid and warm as he presses them together.

It’s looking up into Kylo’s face that has Hux fall apart. His mouth is parted in pure revelation, eyes scanning Hux’s face, reverent and needy and so  _ pure _ with emotion that it sends something through Hux’s gut like a blaster bolt. He comes hard against Kylo’s hand, breath knocked from him as he rushes forward to kiss the Knight through his orgasm.

Kylo follows soon after, groaning into Hux’s mouth and biting at Hux’s lower lip hard enough to break skin. They ride out the aftershocks together, until they’re both a panting mess. With the hand not coated in come Kylo summons the abandoned towel from his bathroom doorway, cleaning them both up.

Hux’s legs shake a little from being stuck in one position for a while but before he can move Kylo wraps an arm around his waist. “Stay.” The request — very different from his earlier command — comes soft and breathy against his neck.

He knows he should leave. Should stop this before it even has a chance to come out of its fledgling shell. 

Against his better judgement Hux agrees, moving to the side but not leaving Kylo’s bed.


End file.
